By CONG Peiwu, Chinese Ambassador to Canada
A recent Associated Press story was published in the Canadian media regarding a press briefing on international arms control and disarmament issues. This conference was held by Fu Cong, Director-General of the Department of Arms Control of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, and the focus was on the question of why does China not join the China-US-Russia arms control negotiations?. I noticed that many Canadian readers took an interest in this topic: So the question still begs why does China not join the so-called China-US-Russia arms control negotiations?
Before answering this question, we must first clarify the rationale for the US insistence on inviting China to join the arms control negotiations. For quite some time, the US and Russia have been conducting bilateral negotiations on arms control. In 2010, the two sides signed the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty which came fully into force in 2011. The terms of that agreement are set to expire next year, which presents these two nuclear super-powers with the challenge of renewing it. However, negotiators on the US side have not been bargaining in good faith. The US administration has adopted a strategy of “putting off as long as possible” any resolution. They are deliberately delaying any consensus until after the expiration of the current Treaty through various nit-picking excuses.
Given the huge gap between the relatively modest nuclear arsenal of China and those of the US and Russia, it is illogical to expect China to join these two countries in a negotiation aimed at mutual nuclear arms reduction. According to the statistics from well-known international think tanks such as the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in Sweden and the Federation of American Scientists, the US nuclear arsenal stands at about 5800 nuclear warheads. This is far more than that of China.
Daryl Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association of the US also believes that “the nuclear weapons of the US and Russia account for 85% of the world’s total, which is more than 10 times of the total number of nuclear warheads deployed by China, UK and France. It is not clear what motivates China to join the negotiations.”
Taking into account this baseline of background information, it is not difficult to see that the “China-US-Russia arms control negotiations” proposed by the US are in actuality an act of deliberate deception in orderto shirk its responsibility. In order to divest itself of the current constraints of the existing treaties, the US is promoting the pretext that China is not restricted by the bilateral nuclear arms control treaty between the US and Russia. The US also makes it seem ominous that China does not take part in these arms control negotiations. While blaming China, the US has also been accusing Russia of breaking the existing treaty. In other words, “no one but the US is doing the right thing; therefore the US must be prioritized and they must be the exception.”
In actual fact, it is the USA whose national security strategy, global hegemony policy and whose military possesses the most advanced and largest nuclear arsenals which is posing the greatest and most realistic threat to world peace and security. It is the USA that has in recent years fully withdrawn from a series of important international security and arms control treaties. This has in turn brought the existing bilateral nuclear disarmament agreement between the US and Russia to the brink of collapse. The collective result has been the tarnishing of America's international reputation. It has become obvious to people all over the world. In the comments section of the Canadian media reports on this topic, I saw many comments from Canadian citizens, the gist of these responses being an understanding by the public that signed agreements with Washington are meaningless. Following recent reinstatement of aluminum tariff’s, Canada knows that all too well.
Having possessed nuclear weapons for decades, China has always adhered to a policy of not being the first to use such weapons of mass destruction and unconditionally not to employ or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states and nuclear-weapon-free zones.
China’s refusal to join the so-called trilateral negotiations does not mean that China is shying away from international nuclear disarmament efforts. On the contrary, China is a strong advocate for nuclear disarmament in both the UN and at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva. China also supports constructive discussion among the five nuclear armed countries on nuclear policies and the reduction of nuclear risks. The 19th session of the 13th Standing Committee of National People’s Congress adopted the decision to ratify the Arms Trade Treaty on June 20, 2020. On the same day, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed the instrument of accession, thus completing the internal legislative procedure for China's accession to the Treaty. On July 6, the instrument of accession was deposited with the UN Secretary General by the Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations. China's accession to this important arms control treaty is further testimony to China's determination to combat illicit arms trafficking and our nation's commitment to multilateralism and the international arms control regime. This also constitutes another concrete step towards the implementation of the grand vision of President Xi Jinping to build a community of shared future for mankind.
The COVID-19 pandemic is currently raging all over the world, bringing new challenges to the international society. What is worse, the political virus has also seriously impacted the relations between major countries and threatened world security. Arms control in the new era must be conducted on the basis of honouring commitments. We must completely abandon the old Cold War mentality and maintain our common security. No country should regard self-interest as “priority” and become the “exception” of multilateral arms control.
